Smelting-furnace.



' ATTORNEYS SMELTING FURNACE.

T. A; M. STEVENSON.

APPLICATION FILE D MAR.29,19H.

T. A.' M. STEVENSON.

SMELTING FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29. 19H.

, Patented June 18, 1918. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS 'mouas ARTHUR szrevnnson, "or WINSTON-SALEM, non'rnoA-nommi.

' SHZEIJ'TING-FURN-ACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented JuneilfS, #1918.

Application filed larch 29. 1917. Serial No. 158,230.

To all whom-it may concern Be a known that l, T OMAS A. M. s'TE- VENSQN,a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Winston-Salem, in thecounty of Forsy-th and State of North Carolina, have invented a new andIm rovedSmelting-Furnace, of which the I oll'ow-ing isa full, clear, andexact .description.

My invention .has for its objectto ,provide a smelting furnace which isrelatively cheap to construct, and which may 'bleconveniently shipped,and be operated economically ,in small units. j

The furnace is constructed with a shaft having an. air space whichextends etherearound and which serves to carry off the heat, therebykeeping (the. shaft ,at a normal temperature. The .air which is. heatedaround the shaft is led over the dischar ed slag, after which the heatedair is passe .to twyers. Also, by this means thez head ,units are savedwhich are wasted in the water in old type furnaces and (the space {isheated toa high temperature whichmaybeusedin j greater volume without.chillingthe furnace. A great saving in .fuel is thereby effected.

Additional objects of the ,invgntion will appear in the follow .zspecication in I mg "beheated to a hlg'her temperature by comwhich thepreferred form of the invention is disclosed. v 1

In the drawings similar reference chauacters denote similar parts in allthe views, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

By referrin to the drawings, it will be seen that the furnace isconstructed with a compartment 5 having an opening 6, a shaft extendingupwardly from the top of the compartment and being provided with aninner wall 7 and an outer wall 8 spaced therefrom, forming an air space9. The inner wall 7 is secured to the top of the compartment 5 aroundthe opening 6. A cold air conduit 10 is mounted on the top of thecompartment 5, and is disposed around the bottom of the shaft, therebeing an opening 11 at the bottom of the outer wall 8 of the shaft, sothat the air from the cold air conduit 1O ma pass upwardly in the air sace 9. Air is fed to this cold air conduit an opening shown by thedotted lines 12, if de ired, y m an o a blower set shown,

It will be understood that as cold air passes "at all times upwardly aainst the inner wall 7 of the shaft, .it will e impossible for the innerwall ,7 0f the'shaft .to [become unduly heated, and that the air whichpasses to a hot air conduit 13from the top of the airspace 9, willbefheated by contact with the inner wall 7 of the shaft. By means 'ofthis construction, the shaft be made of relatively light material,thereby'making it possible to ship the furnace QQnvenien'tly in smallunits which may be used at the mines, "thereby permitting the reductionof ores at themines. 'The inner ,wal'li? ofthe shaft is corrugatedvertically, which increases the strength of the shaft and increasesthearea of the cooling surface.

In addition to theopening 6 in the compartment-55 thereis anotheropening 14, the of. air. condu'it,13 having -a terminal 15 which,extends vdown through "this opening '14 over a ,foreheart'h ear 16which is -,,pro- .vided 'for'receivin'g slag from the crucible car '17,this cruciblescar 17 bein provided with an outlet .18 leading to the"orehearth car 16. The air which passes {through the hot air conduit tothe fore-hearth car will ,heanth car 16 when the furnace is inoperation, this air which has been heated by contact with the slagpassing to twyers 19, which direct it to the bottom of the shaft. Thefore-hearth car 16 is provided with an outlet 20 leading to a spout 21which is mounted at the opening in the compartment 5. The metal isdischarged from the crucible car 17 at an outlet'22 which communicateswith an outlet 23 in the compartment 5.

The outlets 20 and 22 are milled to fit against the outer walls of thecompartment 5, and the track on which the cars 16 and 17 are disposed ispreferably built at a slight angle to the compartment 5 to tighten thejoint between the outlets 20 and 22 and the walls of the compartment.

When the smelting furnace is in use the spout 21 is sealed by the slagflowing from the fore-hearth car 16 and the spout 28 is sealed by thematte flowing from the crucible car 17. The air entering the opening 12,passes up in the air space 9, the walls 7 and 8 serving to keep the wallreasonably cool, the air becoming heated and flowing throug he airconduit 13 to the te p ment 5, where it is further heated by the slag inthe fore-hearth car 16. The matte settles at the bottom of the cruciblecar 17 and the slag passes over the outlet 18 to the fore-hearth car 16.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. In a smelting furnace, a compartment having an opening, a shafthaving double walls forming an air space, the inner wall being connectedwith the compartment at the opening, there being an opening in the outerwall of the shaft adjacent the compartment serving as a cold air inletleading to the air space, a crucible car in the compartment, means fordirecting slag from the crucible car, and an air duct leading from theair space at the top of the shaft to the interior of the compartment.

2. In a smelting furnace, a compartment having a shaft opening andopposite sides with an outlet opening in each of its said sides, a shaftconnected with the compartment at the shaft opening, tracks in thecompartment adjacent one of the said sides and disposed at an anglerelatively thereto, a cruciole car on the tracks, tracks in thecompartment adjacent other of the said sides and disposed at an anglethereto, a fore-hearth car in the compartment on the last mentionedtracks, means for directing slag from the upper portion of the cruciblecar to the fore-hearth car, a spout at the bottom of the crucible carfitting one of the outlet openings in the compartment, a spout at thebottom of the fore-hearth car fitting Copies of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents;

the other outlet opening in the compartment, and an air duct leadingfrom the shaft to the interior of the compartment.

8. In a smelting furnace, a compartment having a shaft opening and twooutlet openings at its sides, a shaft connected with the compartment atthe shaft opening, a crucible car in the compartment under the shaft, afore-hearth car in the compartment at the side of the crucible car,means for directing slag from the upper portion of the crucible car tothe fore-hearth car,

a spout at the bottom of the crucible car fitting one of the outletopenings in the being an opening in the outer wall of the shaft.affording communication between the.

cold air duct and the air space, a crucible car in the compartment underthe shaft, a"

fore-hearth car in the compartment at the side of the crucible car, anair duct leading from the air space at the top of the shaft to theinterior of the compartment adjacent the fore-hearth car, and means fordirecting slag from the crucible car to the for -hearth car.

THOMAS ARTHUR M. STEVENSON.

Washington, D. 0.

